Handwriting my first draft

I have no idea why but i have the sudden urge to write the first draft of my screenplay on notebook paper........i feel like it will somehow be better if my second draft started on the computer and my first would just be on paper.....

does anyone still handwrite when it comes to a draft? not like an outline but has anybody ever written a whole one? i head woody allen does this but not sure

I have no idea why but i have the sudden urge to write the first draft of my screenplay on notebook paper........i feel like it will somehow be better if my second draft started on the computer and my first would just be on paper.....

does anyone still handwrite when it comes to a draft? not like an outline but has anybody ever written a whole one? i head woody allen does this but not sure

I have no idea why but i have the sudden urge to write the first draft of my screenplay on notebook paper........i feel like it will somehow be better if my second draft started on the computer and my first would just be on paper.....

does anyone still handwrite when it comes to a draft? not like an outline but has anybody ever written a whole one? i head woody allen does this but not sure

Click to expand...

Hi i'm Ed.

when i first started writing i used pen and paper all the time -- then transferred in onto PC/laptop. Now i use final draft and a notebook.

I'm like Ed. When I commute a long way to work and don't have a laptop, I use pen & paper, transfer it when I get home, which also gives me a chance to mini-edit as I do. Also, I find pen-writing comes out a little differently, more organic and natural, I'm not quite sure why.

These days, not so much time. I hand write the outline, type the first draft.

Anyone can write. The trouble with writers is they can't do anything else. - Mignon McLaughlin

I write out a lot of scenes, then transfer them onto the computer later. sometimes I can just write better with a pencil in hand rather than staring at a computer screen, and it makes the typing a lot quicker if I already have a reference.

I always hand-write everything. When I rewrite, I edit directly onto a printed copy. For a while I wrote first drafts with a kick-ass electric typewriter I got for a dollar, but the reels get too expensive, and I tend to overwrite too much when given the speed a typewriter allows. I think words have more value when they are handwritten, because writing by hand forces you to spend extra time thinking about your words before committing them to the page. If you can just bang on a keyboard, hit delete, bang on a keyboard, hit delete, how much value do those words have? How much thought do you really put into them? How much half-baked drivel have you read on message boards throughout the years just because people spend so little time thinking before they type? When you have to commit your thoughts to paper, you put in a little more effort to make sure you don't sound like an idiot.

Plus, I have always been from the school of thought that says creation is the act of physically bringing something into being. Until it has tangible form, the idea is not yet really exist. I was also a long holdout in the film vs. digital debate for the same reason. I feel much more in touch with my work by putting it down into a tangible form that I can see and feel. Some blinking letters on a glowing screen that can be wiped from existence at the press of a button is not really real. It is just transitory. It is just data.

writing by hand forces you to spend extra time thinking about your words before committing them to the page. If you can just bang on a keyboard, hit delete, bang on a keyboard, hit delete, how much value do those words have? How much thought do you really put into them?

Click to expand...

Works the other way with me, because I like to get the rough idea down, then craft the words. And I learnt to type at school on and old manual.